1 John 5:1-12

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Scripture 1 John 5:1-12

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. 4 For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 For there are three that testify: 8 the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree. 9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. [1]



        John starts out this chapter with the encouraging words “everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” No works need to be performed, no memorization of creeds, just belief in Jesus Christ will get you into the Kingdom of God. John’s writing here is centered on love. Love of Jesus and love of neighbor. God always gives the strength to carry out these commands. Even though it seems impossible to fulfill these commands in our own strength God can always be relied upon to carry them out. The Christian, by virtue of his rebirth, is always able to love his God and his neighbor.

        Obedience is the only true test of whether we love one another or not. We can know how deep our commitment to the Lord is by the depth of our love for him. Our love for the Son is testified to by the Holy Spirit and by our actions toward those who are in the family of faith. By love we overcome the world. “Speaking of loving God and keeping his commands, John now equates these two concepts: “In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands” (5:3a). The commands of God are previously understood as love for one another (2:7–11; 3:23; 4:21) and to believe in the name of Jesus2”







        Next John moves on to the topic of overcoming the world through love. “Overcoming “the world” is therefore the broadest sphere of overcoming; the evil one is a force within the world, and the false teachers”3 John is referring here to the false teachers into the flock who are preaching the doctrines of the antichrist.

            John then launches into one of the more obscure passages in the letter. Stating that water, blood and Spirit testify to the fact that Jesus is the true Son of God. There are three main ways this could be interpreted. Regardless of the fact that there are different interpretations the we should note that there are two elements to this testimony that are not in dispute First, “God has given us eternal life” (5:11a), and “this life is in his Son” (5:11b). Of the three interpretations we are most likely to come down on the side of the water being Jesus’ baptism and the blood his death on the cross.

            The Holy Spirit also offers testimony to Jesus being the Son of God. The “Spirit is the truth” (5:6c) and is no doubt what is meant by “God’s testimony” (5:9). If the Spirit offers “God’s testimony,” then the water and the blood may constitute a “human” testimony, or they witness to Jesus’s humanity.5

            The basic message of this section is that God is love. Whoever loves is of God and whoever doesn’t is of the devil.


[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 5:1–12.
[2] Campbell, Constantine R.. 1, 2, and 3 John (The Story of God Bible Commentary) (p. 155). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.[2]

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